event

The Dirty Streets, Heavy Hinges
Thu February 9, 2023 8:00 pm (Doors: 7:30 pm )
The Southgate House Revival - Revival Room
Ages 18 and Up
$12 adv/$15 dos
Scan the press on soul-groove outfit Dirty Streets and you’ll see numerous references to rock, soul, and dirty-blooze touchstones like the Faces, Humble Pie, Otis Redding, CCR, and more. Spin Dirty Streets’ records and you’ll hear all of those echoes, plus others—some jazz timing, some acoustic balladry. But by and large, what you’ll hear is a raw, rowdy blend of Motown, Stax, and rock—the pure American blood-beat moving through the heart of Memphis groove.

Austin-born Justin Toland (guitar/vocals) found his own musical food early through his father, a classic-rock aficionado who turned Justin on to the Stones, Creedence, soul music and the Stax sound. At 17 Toland moved to Memphis and met Thomas Storz (bass), a native of the city, through mutual friends; the pair found common musical ground and began playing groove-grounded rock with a series of temporary drummers. Andrew Denham (drums), a Shreveport-born drummer and British hard-rock fan, joined up with Storz and Toland in 2007.

The trio began demoing using a basic setup: a single cassette recorder, no tracks, no real separation, just mics on the bass/drums and guitar and vocals live in the room. Without the option to isolate, tweak, or sweeten after the fact, Dirty Streets became accustomed to running through a take 40 or 50 times as they worked to get it right, all the way through. By the time they began gigging live, that level of discipline had honed Dirty Streets into an instinctual, responsive outfit. Bootleg recordings of their shows in and around Memphis helped to generate buzz, and established Dirty Streets’ rep as a band whose timing was as sharp as their sound was ragged.

Albums followed—Portrait of a Man (2009), Movements (2011), Blades of Grass (2013), White Horse (2015), Distractions (2018), and the live Rough and Tumble (2020), drawn from an in-house performance for the DittyTV streaming music service—all steeped in the raw rock-soul groove that serves as the band’s taproot, the musical core from which all of its explorations still proceed. And within that core, too, is the element that gives their music, the music they love and play, its unique character.

“Soul and blues music is about testifying,” says Toland. “To me, that’s great songwriting. When it’s good, it’s good because it’s true, because it’s authentic.”
The Dirty Streets
Scan the press on soul-groove outfit Dirty Streets and you’ll see numerous references to rock, soul, and
dirty-blooze touchstones like the Faces, Humble Pie, Otis Redding, CCR, and more. Spin Dirty Streets’
records and you’ll hear all of those echoes, plus others—some jazz timing, some acoustic balladry. But
by and large, what you’ll hear is a raw, rowdy blend of Motown, Stax, and rock—the pure American
blood-beat moving through the heart of Memphis groove.

Austin-born Justin Toland (guitar/vocals) found his own musical food early through his father, a classic-
rock aficionado who turned Justin on to the Stones, Creedence, soul music and the Stax sound. At 17

Toland moved to Memphis and met Thomas Storz (bass), a native of the city, through mutual friends; the
pair found common musical ground and began playing groove-grounded rock with a series of temporary
drummers. Andrew Denham (drums), a Shreveport-born drummer and British hard-rock fan, joined up
with Storz and Toland in 2007.

The trio began demoing using a basic setup: a single cassette recorder, no tracks, no real separation,
just mics on the bass/drums and guitar and vocals live in the room. Without the option to isolate, tweak,
or sweeten after the fact, Dirty Streets became accustomed to running through a take 40 or 50 times as
they worked to get it right, all the way through. By the time they began gigging live, that level of discipline
had honed Dirty Streets into an instinctual, responsive outfit. Bootleg recordings of their shows in and
around Memphis helped to generate buzz, and established Dirty Streets’ rep as a band whose timing
was as sharp as their sound was ragged.

Albums followed—Portrait of a Man (2009), Movements (2011), Blades of Grass (2013), White Horse
(2015), Distractions (2018), and the live Rough and Tumble (2020), drawn from an in-house performance
for the DittyTV streaming music service—all steeped in the raw rock-soul groove that serves as the
band’s taproot, the musical core from which all of its explorations still proceed. And within that core, too,
is the element that gives their music, the music they love and play, its unique character.

“Soul and blues music is about testifying,” says Toland. “To me, that’s great songwriting. When it’s good,
it’s good because it’s true, because it’s authentic.”
Heavy Hinges

Heavy Hinges is a sublime ruckus… a beautiful collision of rock, soul, gospel, and roots music. When Heavy Hinges came about in early 2012, their earliest sessions were taken on with heavy hearts.  Three of the five members had recently suffered heartbreaking and unexpected loss of loved ones and were still very much coping.  While the music they were creating was conceived from a place of sadness, what came forth from them was rather spirited and in a way celebratory… a revival of sorts.

Initially, the group gravitated toward playing old traditional numbers, unearthed from field recordings of chain gangs, gospel groups, and fishing boat crews. They found the coarse and rustic nature of the music and the dark, yet hopeful imagery of the lyrics suited them well. While songs from the past proved inspiring and fruitful, it was never their intention to travel down a musical path quite that narrow.  So, they began writing their own story, adding more layers to their evolving style. They frequently referenced the gospel groups, chain gangs, and fishing crews from those old recordings, all the while remaining true to their existing foundation of r&b, blues, and rock & roll…

Heavy Hinges have just released the follow-up to their acclaimed albums Mean Old City and Cause a Scene with their latest effort entitled Lonely. The band is currently supporting the newly released EP with live performances and a series of radio interviews and on-air performances. Heavy Hinges is planning a fall/winter tour later this year.